Lessons from Potions Class
by beneaththetide
Summary: Seven potions and seven years bring Rose and Scorpius together. [Scorose. Written as a series, but each chapter should be able to stand as one-shots. 5/7 complete]
1. C1: The Boil Cure Potion

**The Boil Cure Potion**

1st Year Assignment

Difficulty level: Beginner

Purpose: Cures boils

Final color: Blue

Ingredients:

\- Dried nettles

\- 6 snake fangs

\- 4 horned slugs

\- 2 porcupine quills

* * *

Rose handed all of the snake fangs to Scorpius and began chatting as he crushed the ingredients in a hefty mortar.

"You're Scorpius, right? My dad mentioned your name at the train station. I'm sorry I couldn't say hi yesterday after the Sorting and in our common room! All my cousins made our first night here more stressful than it had to be, I think. We'd see each other all the time before Hogwarts, so I don't get why they have to bug me so much on our first night. I didn't get to talk to anyone outside of my family. It's good that we have Potions class first thing on Mondays too; otherwise they'd still be attacking me right now. Maybe they're just worried since it's our first year..."

Scorpius glanced at Rose, noting her casual posture. "Um..." He tapped the pestle on the mortar's rim and carefully added one, two measures of the crushed powder into their shared cauldron. "It's okay, Rose. Nice to meet you." He added two more measures to the cauldron.

"Nice to meet you too," she beamed and examined the potion's instructions in her textbook. "I'm glad we get to be paired up together! Maybe we can sit together more in other classes too, now that we've met, because Al already made too many friends before we even got here and it's overwhelming and he won't be in all of our classes because he's not in Ravenclaw anyway and-" Rose paused her rapid speech to flick her wand. She heated the cauldron for 10 seconds while mouthing '10, 9, 8-', waving her wand over the mixture as she rounded her mouth. Scorpius simply watches her with a nervous smile.

"Zero!" Rose triumphantly returns his smile with a wide grin. "But yeah, I came to breakfast pretty early, so no first year Ravenclaws were around, and I told myself: 'Rose, you need to make a new friend today no matter what! I know you're excited and nervous, but do your best to stay calm! Then you'll definitely make one!' And you were the very first Ravenclaw I saw when I came into the classroom, and so here we are!" Her hand grandly presented their work table, knocking over some of their vials. Scorpius helped her straighten the mess. "Thanks, Scorp! Oh, wait! Sorry, I'm sorry, wait. Um, can I call you that? Sorry..." Rose's cheeks flushed with color.

Scorpius smiled and nodded in response, turning his attention back to the potion. In preparation for the next step, he laid the horned slugs next to the cauldron. "Um, well thanks for sitting by me. I didn't think anyone from Ravenclaw would, let alone you." He blushed, eyes avoiding Rose's.

"Hmm? What?" Rose leaned closer to him, lips puckering in confusion, and Scorpius' blush deepened. "What does that mean? Why wouldn't anyone sit next to you?"

"Well... I'm a Malfoy. People still don't like Malfoys very much... especially your family."

"Oh," She leaned back. Even though her lips relaxed, her brows quickly knit together. "Maybe? But I like you already. You're really friendly! Daddy said to beat you at every test, but now that we're in the same house, shouldn't I be supporting a fellow housemate instead? We're like, a team now. I don't really get it... but I guess I'm not a very competitive person to begin with."

"I mean, but the War... my parents..." Scorpius' sentence trailed off. How could he explain his family's dark history without scaring his new friend?

"Mmm yeah, I know a little about the history between our families..." Rose turned her head to observe the now simmering potion. "But mum explained why the War happened. Prejudices - mum taught me that word when she told me about this," Rose glanced back at Scorpius with another smile, proud that she learned such a complex concept. Scorpius returned it with understanding. "Prejudices should be all gone now, right? So... shouldn't it be okay to be friends with you now?" She rested her cheek on her propped-up hand.

Scorpius turned to face her, and his eyes met hers. "Yeah, you're right. As of now, we're officially friends, Rose! And we can sit together in all our classes." He looked away from her growing smile and checked the time, using the brief silence to gather his thoughts. "Since I'm in Ravenclaw now, I have to make friends too. Some of my childhood friends are in Slytherin, but, like you and your cousin, I won't get to see them as much in class..." He cleared his throat. "Um, I actually haven't gotten a lot of really mean stares yet, but still, I already hear them talking about my family. I think they just... don't know how to react to a Malfoy." He frowned at the cauldron and pursed his lips.

Scorpius silently added the horned slugs to the cauldron, and the mixture hissed faintly. When he didn't continue speaking, she broke the silence. "It was a nasty boil in history, but we're fixing it now, right? There's a fix for it after all. It's up to us now! Sounds exciting, right? It's almost like we're this era's heroes. Well, heroes in training." She used both her hands to heave the cauldron off of the fire. She reached for the porcupine quills, dropped them into the cauldron, and pointed at the stirring spoon next to Scorpius. Once he handed it over, she stirred the mixture five times clockwise. Scorpius picked up where she left off and waved his wand over the cauldron. He gasped at the pink smoke steadily rising from their concoction. "Wow, I guess we did it perfectly, Rose."

Rose also gasped. "We made the boil cure!" Her hand shot up in the air to catch their professor's attention, and his nod of approval was their signal to pour their first potion into vials. "I think we make a great team, Scorp! We can cure boils now. I'm sure we could do anything together." She surprised him with a sudden hug, but he responded by hugging back.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot, Rose."

"No, thank you! Really." Loosening her grip, Rose rewarded him a chaste peck on the cheek. Scorpius blushed again, but he held his new friend's gaze.

* * *

 **Harry Potter series owned by J.K. Rowling.**


	2. C2: Sleeping Draught

**Sleeping Draught**

2nd Year Assignment

Difficulty level: Beginner

Purpose: Drinker quickly falls into a deep, but temporary sleep

Ingredients:

– 4 sprigs of Lavender

– 6 measures of Standard Ingredient

– 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus

– 4 Valerian sprigs

**Flobberworm mucus essay due TODAY, no exceptions**

* * *

Brows furrowed, Rose clutched her essay on the uses of flobberworm mucus in potions, rereading her introduction.

"' _... and is a vital ingredient to these kinds of potions._ ' Oh, Rosie, I'm sure you did fine," Scorpius joined her at their usual work table and was reading the essay over her shoulder. In one hand he held his neatly rolled essay.

"Scorpius!" Rose turned in her seat to face him, crumpling the parchment against her chest and hiding her work. "I didn't even realize you came into the classroom. Don't read, it's so bad!" He frowned and made to snatch the essay out of her hands, but she spun her body away from him.

"It's fine! You and I both know you're thinking too hard. And I helped you with the important parts anyway, so there's no way you'll fail." Rose turned back to face him and set her essay on the table for the professor to collect with an efficient _Accio._ However, she maintained her pout. Sighing, Scorpius set up their work table for today's potion. "Are you excited for Halloween this time?"

"Well," Rose put lavender sprigs and two measures of standard ingredient into the mortar. She slowly, rhythmically smashed the ingredients into a creamy paste. "I guess... more than last year for sure. At least now I'm not so scared. James is stupid for telling us all those horror stories last year. I owled my mum a week ago because I forgot to ask her about James' stories after Halloween was over. Some of the stuff he said about the troll and that secret chamber – even the Triwizard Tournament – was all made up! She said those things happened, but not the way he told it. _At all_. What is _wrong_ with him?" She broke her rhythm to pound the paste a few times, releasing a loud huff.

Scorpius listened to her rant while dropping some flobberworm mucus and standard ingredient into the cauldron. He recalled James' storytelling in the Great Hall last year but wasn't nearly as impressed at the stories as Rose was. Rose was the lone Ravenclaw in the family, so Scorpius periodically joined her for dinner when she joined the rest of her family. That day, in honor of Halloween, James entranced his cousins with his dramatic narrative, also catching the attention of the group of Gryffindors next to them. He wildly swung his arms to demonstrate a troll's ferocity and accented the scariest parts by pounding the table and screaming in everyone's ear. Albus had also joined the family from his usual seating arrangement, and James took the opportunity to capture his brother into a uncomfortably tight bear hug. This earned James an elbow to the nose.

As if his drama wasn't spooky enough, he and Fred pulled off a spectacular – but borderline wicked – prank a few hours later that scared the entire Potter-Weasley clan, involving all Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. It proved to be too much though, for Rose had nightmares afterwards. It didn't help that her mind was as imaginative as it was intelligent. Even Scorpius double-checked his dormitory to ensure his safety before sleeping that night. Their one consolation was witnessing two Howlers blow up on James and Fred in the Great Hall within the following week. Their mothers had gotten wind of the incident and put their wrath into letter form. That was worse than any Halloween scare in any Weasley's book.

"You're not getting nightmares this time around, right? You're sleeping okay?" Scorpius took the mortar from her and spooned part of the mixture into the cauldron. He placed both the mortar and spoon back down and examined her scrunched face, which was now concentrated on the textbook. "Rosie? … Rosie."

"... I'm not a Gryffindor," Rose's eyes went from the textbook to the cauldron and waved her wand to heat the mixture. Scorpius exhaled slowly and let her silently count to 30 and kill the fire before venturing to speak again.

"It's okay that you're not a Gryffindor," Scorpius spooned the rest of the lavender-standard ingredient paste into the cauldron and waved his wand over its opening. "And it's okay that I'm not in Slytherin..." He turned to see that her eyes already returned to her textbook, glued to one spot, and was corking and uncorking an empty vial with either hand. Frowning, he glanced at his bag on the floor and back at Rose before making a decision. He raised his hand high.

"Professor," he waved their professor down. "May Rose and I leave the room for a bit to eat a snack? We already reached step nine, and the instructions say to wait for 70 minutes. We both finished all of our other classes' assignments, so..."

With the professor's approval, Scorpius shoulders his bag, takes the cork and vial out of Rose's hand, and takes her hand in his own. He responds to her incoherent mumbling with a simple ' _I have something good for you,_ ' and she remained compliant after that.

Scorpius lead Rose across the classroom toward the doorway, with Rose looking at Scorpius' shoes and Scorpius briefly mouthing ' _I got this_ ' to Albus. He shifted his eyes to glare at Albus' teasing seatmate. "Bugger off, Bole, or we're not hanging out next week after all."

They reached the steps that lead to the potions classroom, and Scorpius sat down, pulling Rose down gently to sit next to him. He glanced inside the open potions classroom before training his eyes back to Rose, who finally let him see her face clearly. Her lips formed a resolute line, but her eyes were watery.

"It's nice we have potions with Slytherin this year," he commented with a grin, rummaging through his bag. "Since we don't have classes tomorrow, let's hang out with Al and our other friends, okay? We haven't played any games except chess for weeks, and even our elephantine brains can use a break."

Rose's mouth betrayed her and formed a tiny smile. She didn't mind losing this battle. She nodded and said, "Really, ' _elephantine_ '? Of all words? Okay, let's plan something with them. We're ahead of schedule with classwork anyway. So what do you have for me, Scorp?"

Scorpius presented a decorated rectangular box to Rose, and she began to unravel its ribbon. He pulled out an identical box and a letter from his bag as well, passing the letter to Rose and explaining, "I told my mum and dad about your favorite sweets in my last letter to them, and mum sent a package for us in reply. I was going to give it to you after class, but that's okay. Want to read her letter? I think you'd like it a lot."

He opened his own box and pulled out a chocolate frog to eat, biting into the frog's leg and scrutinizing the card inside the packaging. "Morgana, again? I've got about six of these already! You'd think I would get one of your family members for once," he tutted. Rose giggled and set her box aside to open the letter.

"I can give you some cards of my family if you want. I see them in real life, so I don't really need their cards," Rose offered, her laughter still lingering in her smile. She took the letter out of its envelope.

"But that's basically cheating! I want to earn my collection, fair and square. Maybe you'll trade your dad for Morgana though?" Scorpius dramatically pumped his fist in the air when she agreed, making Rose laugh again before she turned her attention to the letter.

"' _Dear Scorpius, Maybe a little package of treats would make you and Rose a little more excited this Halloween, then. I can understand how James' stories could still be frightening; your father said to remind you that the stories weren't even the worst he could do. Maybe you can cheer Rose up so that she doesn't even think about it. My friends used to help me that way too. Your father cheers me whenever I'm worried too, even now. Give my love to Rose and all of your other friends. Love, mother._ ' Your mum is always so nice," Rose touched the word _cheer_ and added, "Maybe that's where you get it from."

"Nah, she can be scary when she's mad too, just like any mum would. At least she wasn't as scary as we thought she would be when I told her we were friends. She's the best mum out there. Except maybe yours. I was so happy when you told me she didn't hate me after all. Or my parents," Scorpius polished off the last of his frog and took back the letter, stowing it in one of the textbooks in his bag. Rose opened the box, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow, she got me all my favorites!" Rose squealed, a sugared butterfly wing in between her fingers. She put it in her mouth, savoring the chocolate-coconut flavor on her tongue.

"Well yeah; I told her your favorite animal and, like I said, your favorite sweets. How else would she know what to get?"

"Thank you so much, Scorp! Can you tell your mum thanks for me, too?" She hugged him tightly, almost knocking her sweets to the stone ground.

Scorpius returned the hug just as tightly. "Of course, I will."

He let Rose sift through the contents of her package for a little bit, gathering up his courage to speak. "Rose, it's okay that you're not in Gryffindor," Rose stilled for a moment before putting another butterfly wing into her mouth. Scorpius chose to press on.

"And I don't think you have to believe your family's teasing about not being in their house. I know you don't usually care about their teasing since it doesn't make sense, but you're thinking too much again," he took a deep breath. Scorpius looked at the classroom's entrance to see that one of the Slytherins had blown up their potion and was running in circles from the professor in fear. Albus was running after him, trying to calm the kid down. Scorpius chose to focus his eyes on the debacle and continued the rest his speech.

"When I told my dad about our friendship last year, he sat me down and told me a story. It was about him seeing... someone getting tortured by Aunt Bellatrix. Someone stole something important from her vault and she was determined to make her prisoner pay. He says he's guilty for not helping and that he was a coward that day. Maybe he was... but today, I think he's as brave as any Gryffindor for facing his guilt and the consequences of what he did during the War. He has courage every day. I believe in him, no matter what anyone else says. And dad even said sorry to the girl who got tortured years and years later. I think that's real bravery to say sorry too, instead of just pretending it never happened."

"... I never heard about that before from mum _or_ dad," Rose had abandoned her candy early into his monologue and was staring at him as he stared at the now-peaceful class. "Why did he tell you about that?"

"Mmm, I don't really know. Maybe he was trying to say... that it's okay if you're scared about something. There's bravery in you that you don't realize is there. So it's okay, Rose. You're not in Gryffindor, but you're braver than you think. Maybe even braver than your cousins," He broke his gaze from the classroom and met Rose's stare. He couldn't help but smile at her concentrated frown.

Scorpius used the opportunity to shift the subject slightly and said, "You know, I've read that sleep is really good for your health. It helps with our attention, memory, body, mood, and more. Why don't you gather up your courage for tonight? I'll help you keep your mind off of what happened last year. And then you'll be okay, even when you fall asleep deeply."

Scorpius pushed himself off of the steps, grabbed his bag's shoulder strap, and helped Rose back on her feet. He continued to hold her hand and added, "And sleep is just temporary anyway. You'll wake up, and it'll be a new day tomorrow." He lead her back to their seats and dropped his bag next to their table. Rose carefully put her box of sweets inside her own bag. They had promptly returned in time for the potion's next step.

Wasting no time, Rose dumped two more measures of standard ingredient to their potion and conjured an intense flame underneath the cauldron. Scorpius killed the fire after a minute and reached for the valerian sprigs.

"Scorpius? I think you're also really brave, even though you're in Ravenclaw," Rose said, a little more than a whisper.

"Hm? What makes you think that?" He threw the sprigs into the mixture and grabbed a spoon to stir the concoction seven times clockwise. While he placed the spoon back down, Rose waved her wand over the cauldron to complete their potion.

"You always faced people's gossip about your family last year. I couldn't even help you the way you help me today," Rose sighed.

"You were brave for talking to me and making friends with me. That counts as a lot of help," Scorpius smiled, raising his hand to signal their professor. "I don't know if I could have made many friends without you. People aren't so scared of me now."

Rose smiled, helping Scorpius bottle their batch of sleeping draught at their professor's request. "Thanks, Scorp."

* * *

 **A/N: Did you catch that chocolate frog reference? ;)**


	3. C3: Girding Potion

**Girding Potion**

3rd Year Individual Exam

Difficulty level: Late beginner

Purpose: Gives the drinker extra endurance

Final Color: Gold

Other Characteristics: Foul odor

Ingredients:

\- 3 measures of dragonfly thoraxes

\- 1 set of fairy wings

\- 3 flying seahorses

\- 4 measures of doxy eggs

Exam Instructions:

\- Textbooks allowed, ONLY for basic instructions and ingredients list

\- All other notes or textbooks NOT permitted

\- Classroom ingredients permitted ONLY (all ingredients are placed on work tables)

\- General talking ONLY is permitted

\- Bottle finished potion in three labelled vials and leave in front of classroom

**Cheating – magical OR non-magical – is NOT permitted, no exceptions**

* * *

Scorpius yelped when Rose slammed her bag onto their usual work table, nearly dropping the doxy eggs he had carefully measured. He didn't see Rose during breakfast or in their common room that morning, so he had no idea that she was angry until now. Third years were being tested individually on the girding potion for the final exam of the year, and Scorpius came early to the potions classroom to set up his own equipment and prepare ingredients.

"Rosie?" _Slam._

"Rosie," _Thunk._

"Rose, what's wrong?" Scorpius grabbed her wrist, but she violently shook off his hand. He complied and retracted his arm, raising an eyebrow at Rose.

Rose shot him a piercing glare before continuing to set up her potions equipment. Lips pursed, she shoved her scales to the side with a painful _screech_. Scorpius realized she was angry at _him_ and mentally ran through yesterday's events to figure out the cause. _Classes, dinner, homework, friends... what's she mad about?_

He was rarely on the receiving end of her fury, but the damage done was brutal if he didn't solve the problem quickly enough, no matter how close they were. Last time, however, Rose's anger stemmed from a misunderstanding, and once Scorpius got through to her, she burst into tears and apologized. With grace, Scorpius had accepted it, let her hug him, and kissed her forehead tenderly – anything to calm her down again. He really hoped this was just another misunderstanding; if it was his fault this time around, he was utterly finished.

"Rose. Tell me what's going on," he repeated firmly.

" _Nothing's_ wrong. You _clearly_ are acting like nothing's wrong, after all," Rose beat the side of her wand onto her textbook multiple times, pages whipping to the instructions for the potion. She threw some dragonfly thoraxes into a shallow pan and ignited a raging fire underneath to toast the ingredient. Scorpius had already toasted some thoraxes to a beautiful browned color, so he didn't feel pressured to begin quite yet. Really, he just wanted to solve the problem... whatever it was.

"Rose. Rosie, come on, use your words; I really need you to just tell me what's wrong. I'm sorry, okay?" Scorpius begged, slow and deliberate – anything to calm her down.

She concentrated on the flames in front of her, turning the dragonflies into a black crisp. Scorpius inwardly groaned at her audacity to compromise her grade for the sake of an argument. He reluctantly turned to his cauldron and dropped one set of fairy wings inside of it. _Well, maybe I should just get my potion underway before she blows up at me._

" _Incendio_ ," Scorpius murmured, heating the cauldron and glancing at his own textbook. "' _Heat until the potion becomes turquoise..._ '" He recalled the lecture on the heating times for each ingredient listed and grimaced at the inevitably long brewing time. Some ingredients changed the potion's color almost immediately, others required much, much more patience. He settled into his seat and looked sideways at Rose. _Endurance indeed..._

From the corner of his eye, Scorpius saw Rose rip her set of fairy wings in half, then in quarters before dumping it into her cauldron and cast her own spell to heat the potion. Scorpius' mouth twitched.

"Okay, Rosie-"

"Don't," Rose abruptly hissed, pointing the end of the spoon she was now holding into Scorpius' chest.

"Don't _talk_ to me like I-" _Poke._

"Am-" _Poke._

"A-" _Poke._

"Child!" _Whack._

"I'm in _Ravenclaw_ , you prat. I understood you _just_ fine, so _stop it_!" Rose had replaced the spoon on his chest with her fist.

Scorpius grabbed her hand with both of his own and coaxed it open, massaging her palm with his thumbs. She leered at him but didn't move her hand, so he interpreted it as a positive sign. His eyes remained on her palm as he whispered, "You're right, I'm sorry. But I'm in Ravenclaw too, so you _need_ to tell me what's on your mind so that I know what's going on in your head. Otherwise, I won't be able to say sorry properly and _fix_ it."

Rose pulled her hand away and puckered her lips in frustration. _Here it comes._ Scorpius shoved his hands into his pockets, mentally bracing himself.

"Scorpius," she breathed, "I'd _like_ to think that we're both rational, intelligent Ravenclaws who can properly communicate with one another. So _why_ are you telling me ' _sorry_ ' when you don't even know what you're saying sorry to? What kind of half-baked apology-? And that's just foolish on your part, trying to excuse yourself and pretending everything's all right, and-"

Scorpius' mouth fell open, and he squinted his eyes at Rose's now-hysterical form. He chose to tune out the rest of her tirade and to focus on steadying his breath instead. The potion now turquoise, he poured one measure of doxy eggs into the mixture. As soon as the potion turned pink, he added the toasted dragonfly thoraxes little by little, stopping as soon as the bubbling liquid turned a vibrant rose-red.

As she spoke, Rose threw in her own measure of doxy eggs and blackened dragonfly thoraxes, her own potion turning a much darker shade, matching the color of wine. "-so why on _earth_ can't you just tell me sorry for what you did? If you're not going to hang out with me and just ditch me for your other friends again, then fine! Then tell me! I just needed a little owl! A tiny letter! Or give my friends a note! We're in the same house, so it's not hard to reach me! You could've found me in my favorite study places easily! You're either lazy or rude or _something_ to not tell me a thing-"

" _Rose_ ," Scorpius finally snapped. He didn't hear the main point of her argument at all, too stunned that she didn't take his apology seriously. "How could you _say_ that about my sorry? I said sorry _because_ I don't know; I'm just trying to make things okay with us again! Why can't you just calm down?! You know you're making no sense, right?"

"How- How- _Slytherin_ of you to worm your way out of guilt, _Scorp_! Not as brave as your _father_ , I see," Rose sneered.

"Good try, _Rosie dear_ , but your insult isn't even intelligent enough for me to _be_ insulted. What kind of mother's daughter _are_ you?" Scorpius spat.

Before Rose launched another verbal attack, their professor slammed his hands onto their work table. His face was a blotchy red.

"Mr. Malfoy," he glared at Scorpius.

"Miss Weasley," his narrowed eyes darted to Rose's.

"15 points from Ravenclaw. _Each,_ " Scorpius and Rose glanced at each other, then back at their professor. "This is an _exam_. I was already more than kind enough to let partners chat with one another so they can endure such a long final, but you are _testing me_. If I have to come back here again, you will be _disciplined_ , understood?"

Scorpius stared at his cauldron, his potion now blue. He gave an imperceptible nod. Rose followed suit. Glowering, the professor walked past the rest of the tables to his desk. A couple of Hufflepuffs nervously eyed Scorpius and Rose before returning to work.

The two remained quiet for a little while, trying to organize their thoughts. While Rose dumped black thoraxes into her blue-green potion, Scorpius meticulously added his toasted ones, little by little, into his own. His potion turned a shimmering silver as Rose's turned murky grey.

 _30 seconds and it should turn red again..._ He noted, silently counting down. Rose also counted down quietly, her lips silently forming each number. When the potions turned red, they both opened their mouths.

"Scor-"

"Ro-"

They shut their mouths as quickly as they opened them. Conscious of the tense atmosphere, the duo mirrored each other's movements, both adding three measures of doxy eggs and the last of the dragonfly thoraxes into their respective cauldrons. Waiting for their potions to turn blue, they settled into their seats, staring forward at their workspace. Rose fiddled with the top button of her blouse; Scorpius unbuttoned his shirtsleeves and neatly rolled them up to his elbows.

"It has a rather foul odor now, doesn't it?" Rose finally, tentatively ventured.

"Mmm," Scorpius agreed.

Rose crossed and uncrossed her legs as Scorpius tapped either foot on the ground.

"We have another exam next class, right?" Scorpius questioned, giving her a chance to respond to his obvious mistake.

"No," Rose answered, glancing at him. His eyes remained on his cauldron. "The one for Muggle Studies is later this week."

Rose took a deep breath and slowly turned her entire body to face Scorpius. He didn't react.

"... I'm sorry, Scor. The Slytherin and father comments were really low of me. I just... yesterday, I looked and waited forever for you to spend time with me. You didn't tell me anything. You didn't come find me either. I just want you to let me know so I'm not wondering where you are, that's all..."

Scorpius sighed deeply and turned his body toward Rose, meeting her eyes and frowning.

"It's okay, Rose. Why didn't you just tell me that then?"

"Scor, I say this every time you go off with your friends. This isn't the first time we talked about this," Rose inhaled evenly, one hand gripping the other.

Scorpius ran his hand through his hair, his face relaxing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was going to hang out with the guys yesterday. I'm sorry for making fun of your intelligence, too; I know you really look up to your mum."

"It's okay, Scor. It's..." Rose hesitated. "It's not like... I'm your girlfriend or anything."

Scorpius bit the inside of his cheek and swallowed. "Right. It's... not like I'm your boyfriend."

They both shifted in their seats and snatched their bottles of seahorses, dropping three of them into their blue concoctions. The potions fizzled; Scorpius' turned a sea-foam green, Rose's a shade of lime.

Scorpius cleared his throat and loosened his necktie to redo the knot. Rose smoothed out her skirt and buttoned her cardigan.

Finally, the potions turned into its final color. Scorpius ladled his golden potion into a couple of vials and labelled them with ' _S. Malfoy_ '.

"So... are we okay now, Rose?"

Rose bottled her vials with brown liquid, labelling each one with a quick ' _RGW_ '. Disappointed with her brewing failure, she rapidly blinked. Scorpius tugged at his rolled shirtsleeve.

"... yeah, Scor. We're okay," she whispered.

Holding their breaths, they collected and stored their equipment, shouldered their bags, and left their potion samples on the professor's desk. Their professor looked up from his copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ and gave them a curt nod, and the two bowed slightly in belated remorse for their earlier outburst. Still quiet, they shuffled out of the classroom.

Just outside of the doorway, Rose and Scorpius faced each other but didn't move another muscle for a good minute. Closing her eyes tightly, Rose broke the silence and wrapped her arms around Scorpius' waist, uttering a muffled ' _I messed up_ '. Scorpius wrapped his own arms around her shoulders and almost kissed the top of her forehead, pausing at the last moment. With hesitation, he withdrew his head. He slid his hands to Rose's arms and gently pushed her body back, just enough for him to look at her tear-streaked face.

"Rose... our friendship," Scorpius closed his eyes and breathed, "Is important to me. We'll endure everything, just like you believed our first year. ' _We can fix anything,_ ' or ' _heroes in training_ '... something like that, right?"

Wiping her tears with the back of her hands, Rose sniffled and gave a wavering smile. "Yeah, Scor- Scorp. I don't want to lose... my friend."

Scorpius offered a small smile in return and released her arms after a beat. As normal, the pair walked to their next class together. But there was a new atmosphere between them – a different kind of tension – that neither of them were able to comprehend just yet.

* * *

 **A/N: Did you like that foul odor reference? ;)**


	4. C4: Wit-Sharpening Potion

**Wit-Sharpening Potion**

4th Year Assignment

Difficulty level: Moderate

Purpose: Drinker thinks more clearly; increase of perception, awareness, and acumen

Ingredients:

Ground scarab beetles

Cut ginger roots

Armadillo bile

* * *

Scorpius uncharacteristically hung back at the entrance of the potions classroom, studying Rose's figure. He was confused as to why she was uncharacteristically in the classroom 15 minutes early – she was always _just_ on time to potions, like clockwork. Almost a week had already passed, and they hadn't talked properly since they last went to Hogsmeade together. Rose's eyes were unfocused, gazing at a pair of bronze scales in front of her, and her lips were slightly parted. Today Rose's lips were a lovelier pink than he remembered and chalked it up to the dungeon's lighting.

The trip was long overdue: Scorpius owed Rose a day together since he had been hanging out more and more with the guys. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty, even if he was faithful to let her know what he was up to every time. Rose also owed Scorpius a day together; despite last year's fight about wanting to spend more time with him, she had been hanging out with other girls and appreciated being able to unwind with makeup and fashion. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty for doing the opposite of what she wanted, even though she always made sure to let him know what she was up to. Their time with others imperceptibly began to outweigh the amount of time they used to spend together, just as a pair. And they missed each other.

Scorpius was the one who finally asked to spend a day together, and Rose was the one who suggested going to Hogsmeade. Everything they did together that day was much like every other Hogsmeade trip they had taken together last year. As always, they stopped by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and greeted Rose's family; grabbed a few chocolate frogs and sugared butterfly wings from Honeydukes; and shared a single butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks before heading back to the castle grounds to procrastinate on homework with a game of chess. Nothing new, nothing unordinary.

Even so, Scorpius had felt his heart pounding insistently against his chest.

Scorpius stared at the grout between the stone flooring and made one, two steps into the classroom when he heard another voice: "Morning, Rosie."

Scorpius' heart suddenly leapt into his throat. While his eyes glared at the Gryffindor that addressed her, his legs remained spellbound to the floor.

Rose's eyebrows wrinkled slightly at the nickname, not recognizing the voice; she raised her head to greet the Gryffindor. "Oh, Brady. Hello," She quirked her lips into a vague smile. "Is... something wrong?"

Brady McLaggan offered a crooked smile, rubbing his neck with one hand and pocketing the other. "No, uh... nothing wrong at all. Actually, I just –" He cleared his throat and invited himself to sit in Scorpius' chair, to which Rose involuntarily scowled in response.

"Scor's coming to class soon, can you please not take his spot?" Rose hissed, cutting Brady off. Her facial features schooled to a neutral state, she returned her gaze to the potions equipment and grabbed a large jar of dried scarab beetles.

Brady's winning smile faltered for a moment. "Uh, yeah," The seat's legs scraped against the stone floor as he stood up. "No problem. Anyway, about the ball coming up, I just wanted to ask you if –"

"Morning, Rosie," Scorpius' legs had given way when he heard the word _ball_ , and he made it just in time to interrupt McLaggen's second attempt to speak. "You're here early."

Without hesitation, Scorpius politely smiled at Brady, but he shot an icy stare straight into his eyes. "McLaggen. Sorry, do you mind moving? I normally sit with Rose."

By now, Brady's smile became a losing grimace, and he looked away from Scorpius. "Nevermind, Rose," he muttered, turning away to trudge across the room. "Malfoy."

As Scorpius took out his notes and settled into his seat, Rose's eyes remained on the equipment; she made a lame attempt at loosening the lid of the beetle jar. Not only did she want to busy herself until Brady was well out of earshot, but she also couldn't help but stall for a moment before greeting Scorpius. She really enjoyed her time with Scorpius at Hogsmeade last Saturday, but since the day after that, the normal butterflies that have been in her stomach had quickly become a whirling tornado. She simply couldn't get a certain scene from Sunday out of her head, and it was making sleeping difficult. It was making even breathing a little difficult... at least around Scorpius.

* * *

Hogwarts was an enormous castle. Rose had explored so much of it, but even with the Potter's treasured Marauder's map, the surprises behind every door were endless. And yet, despite the odds, she somehow managed to run into Scorpius and a fellow Ravenclaw named Marie, a sweet girl in their year. Instead of coming forward to greet the pair – it's not like Rose wasn't friendly with Marie as well – she hid behind the nearest gargoyle when she realized they were in the middle of a conversation. Scorpius naturally became closer to Marie since he was first friends with Marie's older brother, so Rose couldn't justify the simmering heat she felt from within her. She also couldn't determine her reason for hiding... but she did it anyway.

"... it's pretty, right? Like it?" Scorpius' back was facing Rose, but she still caught a glimmer of gold in his hand. Marie's eyes lit up at whatever trinket he was holding.

"Definitely," Marie plucked the item out of his outstretched hand, letting the long chain dangle and glimmer in the light. "It's like... the sparkles are dancing wherever the light hits. Perfect for the Christmas ball; even moreso for the Ravenclaw afterparty."

Speechless, Rose watched just long enough to watch Marie raise her head to grin from ear to ear at Scorpius, and she darted away to put some distance between her and that shocking scene.

 _A... gift? For Marie?_ Rose had found her way back to the Ravenclaw common room.

 _I don't even –_ And she raced up the staircase to her dormitory.

 _But that's just –_ And she claimed the bathroom before her roommates could greet her.

 _Well it's just –_ And she quickly ran a bath for herself.

 _I – But it's Marie!_ And her tears finally bubbled over.

 _They're friends, of course they'll talk to each other; it could_ – sniff – _just be Marie's birthday; he found her long-lost necklace; she **must** be going with – _ hic – _someone else to the_ – sniff – _ball; and Scor doesn't even_ – hic – _**like** that stuff..._

The more scenarios Rose fashioned to explain what she saw, the more she cried.

* * *

"Rose?" Scorpius jerked Rose out of her trance. "I already added ginger root and armadillo bile, so our potion's almost cobalt blue. Want to add the beetles soon? You're... still clutching the jar."

Rose had whirled around at Scorpius' call. "Oh my, Scorpius. I'm sorry, I didn't even realize we started. Let me crush the beetles..." She hastily grabbed the largest pestle available and dumped half the jar's beetles into its matching mortar. Just as hastily, she crushed the scarabs and dumped half of the prepared ingredient into the cobalt potion, turning the potion into a boysenberry color.

Scorpius cleared his throat slightly. "Rosie, maybe... a little slower? The potion should be more red than this..." He glanced at Rose before adding more Armadillo bile to the mix. She didn't inherit the Weasley blush, but her cheeks were still clearly flushed.

"I'm sorry," Rose ducked her head and carefully sliced more ginger root for the next step. "Scorpius, I just have a lot on my mind right now." The potion became a mustard yellow in her peripheral vision, and she threw in some ginger root, one slice at a time.

Scorpius watched her avoid eye contact and frowned. He poured in more armadillo bile as soon as Rose's ginger root turned the concoction the color of avocado – _Not lime green... botched it. No use trying to save the potion now, but maybe there's still time to help Rosie._

"Well, Rose... can I help? You know you can always talk to me... um, it's not about the ball, is it?"

Rose's body jolted out of her seat, alarming Scorpius and prompting him to yelp loudly.

"How–" She started.

Scorpius interrupted her in a panic, and he had automatically reached his arms out to stabilize her body. "Sorry, I just assumed it was since Brady asked you, well almost asked you anyway, but you seemed like you were going to say no and so it made sense that someone else must've asked you already and now you're worried that–"

"Scor!" Rose finally caught up with Scorpius' accelerating voice and stopped his babbling by clutching his outstretched arms with her own. "No... no one else asked me."

Their eyes met and she immediately chose to stare at Scorpius' Adam's apple instead. Rose determined not to cry again for being presumptuous of Scorpius and his choices regarding the ball. Her eyes, however, felt moist, and she resorted to blinking to fight the tears before he saw them fall.

"... oh," Scorpius lamely replied, after a few moments. He sat in stunned silence.

When he didn't say anything more, Rose hesitated and turned back toward the potion. She picked up her wand on the table to tame the hungry flames licking the cauldron, bringing the potion to a gentle simmer. When she was satisfied with the potion's status, she deliberately, neatly put her wand to the side again.

"Rose," Scorpius eventually spoke. If his voice wasn't muffled, she wouldn't have turned back to look at him. He was bent over, rummaging in his bag.

"Scor?" she cautiously replied, letting him know she turned back to face him.

"I was going to do this _not_ here during class, but..." Scorpius produced a thin, bronze colored box tied with a navy-blue satin ribbon. "This is your Christmas gift. Maybe... you can wear it to the ball? With me?"

Rose blinked and reached for the box with trembling hands. Scorpius settled himself in his seat to watch her, resting his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hands. "Just, uh... take your time."

In the box was a delicate golden butterfly necklace. The long golden chain held a golden filigree butterfly, accented with tiny diamond-like stones and charmed to flap its wings when touched. Rose tenderly touched the butterfly in its box. As it flapped, the butterfly's wings gleamed.

"... oh," Rose elegantly responded. She was entranced by the glimmering trinket.

"Oh I mean... it's fine, you don't have to be stuck, you know, with me. At the ball. It's just your Christmas gift anyway, so-"

"What? No, Scor; yes. Yes," Rose looked back up at a blushing Scorpius and grinned.

"Yes, of course I'll go with you!" She hugged him tightly and he eagerly returned the hug. "Thank you so much for my present. I haven't even _thought_ about what to give you yet..."

Scorpius gently nudged Rose and came out of the hug. He turned down the potion's fire and added the rest of the ginger root into the cauldron. Meanwhile, Rose lifted the long gold chain over her head and the butterfly rested on her chest. She scooped the butterfly into her hand to examine it more closely. "Scor, you remembered my butterfly thing."

"Butterfly thing? You eat sugared butterfly wings all the time; a wearable butterfly was inevitable," Scorpius laughed and poured their finished potion into a few vials; the concoction ended up a carrot-juice kind of color and a rather unappetizing texture. He examined the vials in the light before labelling each filled vial with their initials. "Well, at least we won't completely fail this one. Could've been much worse."

"Scor, I saw you show this to Marie the other day," Rose remained on the necklace topic.

"Oh, you saw that? I was asking for help with your Christmas gift; I wasn't entirely sure how to charm it properly and Marie's great at more refined Charmwork like that. And then somehow I ended up asking her how I should ask you to the ball..."

"That's what you were doing?!"

"Of course! You and I are close, but I very well couldn't ask _you_ for advice on asking you on a date, could I?"

"Well. That's... true," Rose replied, searching for more to say. "Well, what if... I had said yes to Brady?"

Scorpius paused and stared at the vials in his hands.

"Good question. Well," he rolled the vials in his hand, from wrist to fingertips and back. "You didn't. So... you're _my_ date, not his."

Scorpius savored those words. _My date._

And he had a little realization, some sudden insight. _That's what I was feeling earlier... Jealousy. And I felt jealous because I like –_

 _Scorpius._ Rose thought, and she was suddenly aware. _I like Scorpius. So that explains what I've been feeling... the jealousy. And I felt jealous because I like –_

"Rose?" Scorpius poked Rose's cheek. "Let's go to lunch, I turned in our potion."

Rose blushed, but bravely looked into Scorpius' eyes and smiled.

* * *

 **Yeah, hi. I'm alive, -ahem-. I'm sorry, I really meant to finish this by January like I planned, but my perfectionist tendencies kicked in... and then I got sick (of course).**

 **My thoughts writing this: Scorpius and Rose spent their first few years doing a lot of thinking (from 1st/2nd years' lofty thoughts about the world and their psyche to 3rd year's [re]thinking about their friendship), and I attempted to make them face their feelings without making so much logical sense of them like they want to. i.e. they're out of their comfort zone and trying to figure _that_ out, and I hope I showed it well enough. Also, I played a little bit with the perspective (Rose's v. Scorpius') to try and draw some interesting parallels in the storytelling. I hope it was easy to follow because I definitely enjoyed writing it!**

 **In the end I didn't plan this chapter to come out the way it did, so perhaps any lack of impact comes from the lack of appropriate planning in previous chapters. My conclusion? Ohhh well. I hope you still enjoyed it! Maybe review if you did? :)**


	5. C5: Draught of Peace

**5** **th** **Year Assignment**

 **Draught of Peace**

 **Difficulty level:** Advanced

 **Purpose:** Relieves anxiety and agitation

 **Final Color:** icy blue (blue-white)

 **Ingredients:**

\- Powdered moonstone

\- Hellebore syrup

\- Powdered unicorn horn

\- Powdered porcupine quills

 **Notes:**

\- Should emit a light silver vapor at the end

\- READ DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY: the smallest mistake will have drastic consequences

* * *

5th years were already stressed over their O.W.L.s preparation. While Scorpius and Rose lived up to the Ravenclaw stereotype, flawlessly answering all their practice questions and deftly executing spells, they couldn't escape the tense atmosphere among their peers. They were certainly talented students, but they too had to study with diligence. Today was a normal (tense) one for their peers; their potions professor was a sympathetic man and had assigned – in collaboration with the hospital wing – the Draught of Peace to the 5th years so that he had a good excuse to end the class by administering all of his stores of the potion, under the guise of educating his anxious students.

"You know how I love potions, right? I actually want to be a potioneer for St. Mungo's," Scorpius began. Both he and Rose were already in the middle of their potion-brewing.

"It took a little convincing for Father – just the medical part, he's happy with my potion work – but Mum was thrilled. That particular hospital makes a sharp distinction between medical potioneers and other kinds of healers, but I suppose I don't care too much since it's just the making of medicine that I care about anyway. What's the muggle equivalent again? Pharmacy? And I'm fond enough of London..."

Rose felt a little foolish and a little ashamed. While Scorpius was stressed over his future career, she was stressed out about him. She finally recognized her feelings for him last year but wasn't sure if Scorpius felt the same way. They've been close friends since they met and the line between friendship and romance was impossible for her to distinguish. She had nothing else to compare to since no one she really knew has ever asked her out before. Sure, there were random boys who could make awkward love confessions, and there was the _McLaggen Incident_ of last year... but she couldn't tell if Scorpius was acting any differently.

"Ro, you're going to grind the moonstone too much," Scorpius held her wrist and lifted her hand. "The 'powder' should actually be a little coarse, more like sea salt. Are... you okay? Worried about O.W.L.s, too? Or is it the stress of careers?"

Rose closed her eyes before putting her pestle onto their work table and chose to lie by offering a partial truth.

"I'm sorry, Scor. I'm... yeah, just distracted because of all the exams. I just don't want to be disqualified from what I want," She smiled.

"How did your parents take your plans? Are they not okay with you being an herbologist?"

"No, I-"

"Because I mean, you're brilliant at it;" He continued, adding the prepared moonstone. "Definitely the best witch in our year..."

"Scor, thanks, they were perfectly fine with it. I excel in herbology, and they just want me to be happy with whatever I choose to do. It's – you know..." Rose trailed off. She stirred the emerald green potion until it turned sapphire and let Scorpius add more powdered moonstone to the cauldron.

Scorpius supplied prompts to encourage Rose to speak again... or get a reaction, at least. "Are you trying to match your mum's O.W.L.s scores? Do you not want to be an herbologist anymore? Is Al making you to join him in cursebreaking? Would you rather get a muggle job? Why not work with the Ministry then? Or maybe you can farm at –"

"Scorpius, stop!" Rose laughed and hit his shoulder to avoid knocking extra syrup of hellebore into the cauldron. He snickered as Rose moved to get the powdered porcupine quills for the next step in the recipe.

"I'm kidding, don't be silly," his grin gradually fell into a neutral line, and he carefully crafted his next words. "You're not... trying to plan your future for someone else, are you?" _Not for another bloke, right?_

Rose almost dropped the entire bottle of powder into the cauldron in shock.

"Scor, I just –" The half-empty bottle of powder clinked against their tabletop, and she crossed her arms, disguising her nervousness with a crooked grin. "I just told you that my parents just want me to be happy. And last time I checked, I had no boyfriend. My future is my own." _I just wish you wanted to share it with me, that's all._

Scorpius smartly avoided her gaze and added ground unicorn horn a milliliter at a time, watching the subtle change of color from lavender to pink. Rose took a controlled breath while touching the wings of her butterfly necklace.

"... while my future is my own, I'm just worried that I'll make a decision or produce a result that I never wanted. No matter how many variables I try to control, things happen. Unexplainable things... just... happen. Unfathomable things. Well, it's not that I think something like the War will happen again, but more like... what's important to us now might not be in a few years, and I'll regret the effort I give to it. Or maybe I won't treasure what's important until I lose it. I don't know. I say my future is my own, but at the same time so many things... people... are attached to it. The smallest mistake I make can have the most drastic consequences. What happens in my future doesn't affect just me, it affects others too. Like... you."

Scorpius had finished the potion and bottled the draught as she opened her heart to him. For a few moments, he systematically analyzed her words. He couldn't decide why she was being so vague, however, and decided to mentally classify his analysis as rubbish. Forget his conclusions.

So he wrapped his arms around her, shoulders relaxing as she reciprocated the hug.

"Ro, I honestly don't know what to say about the future, either yours or mine. But..." he swallowed. "If it means anything to you, I treasure you."

Rose involuntarily nuzzled even closer to Scorpius, feeling secure in his arms.

"I treasure you, too."

* * *

 **Mmm, I'm actually not that happy with this one, but it does have everything I wanted in this slice of their life. It's on the short side too, I know, but at least it's sweet and fluffy, I guess. What do you all think? Please review! :)**

 **BTW, if you're interested, I wrote a companion piece to LPC's chapter 4, Wit-Sharpening Potion. It shows what actually happened between Scorpius and Marie when Rose stumbled upon them. I published it as a separate story so it doesn't disrupt the flow of this story. Hope you like it!**


End file.
